Ever wonder why a flamingo lifts one leg or what happens when 99 rabbits step backwards? Watch a gibbon tell these and other hilarious jokes to some friends and it will be sure to tickle your funny bone! Let us know which joke is your favourite by leaving a comment.
Top Ten Even Funnier Animal Jokes
Ranger Isabella’s Art Market
Meet Isabella! She wrote to us about her awesomely creative fundraising experience to help protect the Peregrine Falcons after seeing an Earth Rangers commercial on TV:
My name is Isabella and I’m six years old. When school was over for the year, I wanted to find a summer hobby and saw a commercial about Earth Rangers and decided that’s what I wanted to do. I checked out the website, joined Earth Rangers, and picked out the Peregrine Falcon to support.
After watching videos, getting fundraising tips and talking to people in my family, we came up with a great idea! We combined a garage sale, with a bake sale, a jewellery sale and a kid’s art sale – making our own market. We even had three different candy jar guessing games for people to donate towards. Everyone helped me a lot. People donated items for the garage sale, helped me make jewellery, and baked goodies for the bake sale. I spent all summer painting pictures, making bead bracelets and necklaces and baking.
On the day of our sale we woke up really early and set everything all up and down my grandparents drive way. I greeted every customer all day and showed them the different areas that were set up. We even had a surprise special guest when Batman showed up!
He even bought some cookies and one of my paintings!!!
I’m proud of all the hard work I did, and thankful that all my family and friends helped me. The day was a big success and I’m so excited to have raised almost $600 and reached my Earth Rangers goal.
We were super excited to hear about Ranger Isabella’s cool fundraising Market idea – thank you Isabella for all of your hard work! Ranger Isabella’s donation helped Earth Rangers, The Nature Conservancy of Canada, and FLAP Canada team up to study Peregrine Falcon breeding patterns and keep them safe by promoting bird-friendly building designs!
Caption This! What’s This Horse Thinking?
We need your help! This horse is trying to tell us something but we can’t figure it out! Do you know what it’s thinking?
See if you can come up with the best caption!
Post your ideas in the comment section below.
Looking for more fun stuff? Check out our other captions, try and figure out a pixel puzzler, take a quiz or watch a cool video!
Welcoming Home the Pine Marten!
We love our Pine Marten Animal Ambassador here at Earth Rangers, his name is Timber! From its incredible ability to skip through trees for hundreds of meters, hunting small mammals and birds along the way, to its amazingly soft and silky fur, we think these weasel relatives are pretty awesome.
Sadly, excessive trapping and habitat loss caused serious declines in Pine Marten populations across Canada. These declines were so big that in some places, the Pine Marten disappeared completely. This was the case in the mountains of Manitoba, and the Parks Canada team knew they had to do something to help. Let’s head west to learn more about an amazing conservation success story that brought the Pine Marten back to the wilderness of Manitoba!
Riding Mountain National Park is located in southern Manitoba. Its old, mature forests provide perfect Pine Marten habitat, and looking around today you might even spot one of these curious critters. You wouldn’t always have been this lucky though! It wasn’t until the early 1990s (years before you were born!) that the Pine Marten called this national park home, thanks to a successful reintroduction by the Parks Canada team.
To begin the reintroduction effort, the team first had to track down Pine Martens living close by that they could relocate. They brought 68 Pine Martens from the nearby Duck Mountains into the park, and they put radio collars on some of the animals so they could track their journey through their new home. They used cameras and track surveys (where they counted the number of Pine Marten paw prints in the snow) to give them an idea of how many Pine Martens were in the park, and they continue to monitor their populations today. Now almost 30 years later, the team is happy to report that the population is stable – and maybe increasing!
This epic story from Riding Mountain National Park is just one example of how a little hard work can make a big difference to the animals we love. Do your part to help protect Pine Martens by starting a Bring Back the Wild campaign today!
Can keeping cats inside help keep birds safe?
Cats are adorable, there’s no doubt about that. But behind those cute eyes and little nose is a very skilled hunter, and that can be really bad news for birds. That’s why we’re teaming up with Cats&Birds and Nature Canada to give you some tips to help you take good care of your cat AND take good care of the birds!
Why should you keep your cat from roaming outside?
It’s natural for cats to hunt. Just look at their larger feline relatives. We wouldn’t want to be near a tiger when it’s hungry, that’s for sure! But there are so many domestic (pet) cats on the hunt that it’s really taking a toll on birds. In fact, it’s estimated that cats kill 100 to 350 million birds per year in Canada.
Protecting birds isn’t the only reason to keep your cat from going outside alone. It’s better for the cats too! We don’t let our dogs go out on the streets without us, and we need to take just as good care of our cats. When we keep our cats indoors, or supervise them when they are outdoors, we protect them from diseases, toxins, and other animals. They are also less likely to run away, get lost or hit by cars.
Tips to keep your cat safe & save bird lives
You can retrain your cat to be happy indoors, or you can walk them on a leash or create a safe outdoor space. Training an outdoor cat to stay inside can be tough, so you’ll need to have patience. Here are some tips to help:
Start slowly. If your cat spends most of its time outside, keep it inside for longer and longer periods before letting it out. It might be a good idea to start this when the weather is getting colder, since most cats like warm, dry places. By the end of winter, your cat could be living the indoor life.
Give your cat enough to do inside and it won’t 
need to go outside to find fun. Here are some ideas:
– Build a window perch so your cat can look outside
– Get a scratching post or cat furniture
– Spend time playing with your cat
– Try giving your cat catnip, honeysuckle or cat grass
– Think about getting your cat a playmate
This is just the beginning! You can find tons of resources to help you keep your cat safe, and save birds lives:
– How to provide safe outdoor options and keep an indoor cat sufficiently stimulated
– How to transition an outdoor cat to an indoor cat
– What to do if you have a cat that always tries to get outside
– DIY cat Shelf
– Cat Enclosures and ‘catios’
– Harness Training your cat
You can also help birds by putting out food for them to eat. Accept the For the Birds Mission to learn how to build your own bird feeder!
Information for this Mission was gathered with the help of
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Blake’s Beluga and Battery Bonanza
Super Ranger Blake steps into action every day to help protect the environment! Not only does he walk to school as much as possible, but he also picks up litter from the ground in front of his house, at school, and around the community! Let’s check out Ranger Blake’s story:
Ranger Blake became an official Earth Ranger in June 2014, after a friend at school gave him an Earth Rangers postcard with a picture of a Beluga Whale on the front – one of the Bring Back the Wild animals you could protect that year. From that moment on, Ranger Blake was hooked!
Ranger Blake immediately started a Beluga Whale campaign and raised $145 by asking friend and family for donations. But he didn’t stop with the Beluga! Blake went on to help protect the Eastern Wolf, Little Brown Bats and Wolverines, raising over $400 to protect animals in need! He even put up a bat box at his family cottage to give bats, like the Little Brown Bat, a safe place to hibernate and raise their young without the threat of the deadly disease called White-Nose Syndrome.
8 year-old Blake has not only been busy fundraising for Bring Back the Wild, he has completed a whole bunch of Earth Rangers Missions too. He worked hard with his family to make a birdhouse and bird feeder as part of the For the Birds Mission, he protected his house from energy wasting villains with Operation Conservation, and he planted a pollinator garden for his Pollinator Power Mission. He even delivered a presentation a school to share information about how to shrink your carbon footprint with the Carbon Footprint Investigation Mission, and to teach his classmates how they can become Earth Rangers themselves.
Ranger Blake has completed a lot of Missions, but his favourite was Battery Blitz. He asked family members and friends to donate their used batteries to him and ended up collecting and safely recycling 466 batteries!
Let’s hear from Ranger Blake about why it’s so important to protect animals and the environment:
“I think it’s important that animals have the same kind of like as people. They should have safe homes and enough to eat and drink. We should do what we can to protect animals, their habitats and the natural environment.”
Thank you, Ranger Blake, for making environmentally-conscious decisions every day!
All aboard the beluga express!
Beluga whales are amazing animals, and they’re also amazingly unique. Unlike most other whales, the adults are all white and they have no fin on their back, but a crest that allows them to break the ice to breathe. Compared to their predator, the killer whale, they’re tiny! Belugas are usually about 5 metres (15 feet) long, while killer whales can grow to almost twice that length.
Their unique features make belugas well adapted to their Arctic homes, where they spend much of their time swimming underneath sheets of ice. Want to catch a glimpse of these marvellous mammals but not ready to hop on a plane Canada’s coolest climate? That’s where Parks Canada comes in!
Just a couple hours northeast of Quebec City is the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, Canada’s first National Marine Conservation Area. The park was created in 1998 to help protect the St. Lawrence population of beluga whales that call this important area home. This population is the southernmost in the world. Here, belugas do everything they need to do to survive: they feed, they give birth and take care of their young. There were an estimated 10,000 whales living in the St. Lawrence in the late 1800s, but sadly years of hunting and changes in their habitat have reduced the population to less than 900 and the St. Lawrence Beluga is now endangered.
Scientists started monitoring the St. Lawrence beluga population in the 1980s, and they’ve already done lots to help increase knowledge of this unique population. Not only is it now illegal to hunt beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River, it’s also illegal to chase or disturb them, thanks to laws established in the Marine Park by Parks Canada and collaborators. This means that boats and kayaks must drive slowly and stay at least 400 metres away from any belugas they spot. This creates a sort of “bubble” of protection around the whales that are easily distracted by all the traffic, giving beluga mothers the peace and quiet they need to give birth and take care of their babies.
Belugas only have babies every 2-3 years, which means their population doesn’t grow very fast – and this can make recovery really slow. Even though one important cause of population decline was eliminated (hunting), the Parks Canada team knew that they would have to do more if they wanted the population to recover. They needed to make sure that aside from just being safe, these belugas had enough food and habitat to succeed.
And that’s where L’Alliance comes in! L’Alliance is a Parks Canada boat that heads out twice every week to collect important information from the park. It uses a special tool called an echosounder to track the amount and location of the food that the beluga loves to eat, like small fish such as capelin and sandlance. This helps the team identify important beluga feeding grounds, which it can then work extra hard to protect. Keeping the beluga’s habitat safe helps make sure they have peaceful areas to take care of their young and that they have a steady source of food to support the population.
Beluga whales are incredible creatures, and thanks to Parks Canada their St. Lawrence River population is well protected – and we wish them good luck on the road to recovery!
Toxic Takedown
When toxins get into the environment, they can do a lot of damage by polluting our ecosystems and making the animals we love sick. What’s worse is that you might be adding to the problem and not even know it. Why? Because some of the products we use every day release toxins into the environment.
Well, now it’s time we got tough on toxins, with Toxic Takedown!
What is a toxin? If something is toxic, it means that it’s harmful to the health of humans, animals and/or the environment. You can think of toxins as a kind of poison.
Toxins in products you have at home can cause big problems for wildlife. And we’re not just talking about the animals in your neighbourhood. If these toxins get into our important waterways, like the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Rivers, they can travel all the way to the Arctic!
We need your help to protect animals by keeping these toxins out of our ecosystems.
In this Mission, you’ll learn about some of the household products that contain toxins that can hurt the environment. Then, you’ll do your part to eliminate these products by unleashing your inner scientist to create your own eco-friendly plastic, cleaners, and bath bombs!
Toxic Takedown Extras
The Toxic Takedown Mission shows you how to protect animals by cutting down on toxins in your home, but animals aren’t the only ones who will benefit when you accept this Mission. You’ll be helping yourself too! That’s because many of the toxins that hurt the environment can also hurt you. When you work to reduce them, you’re making your home safer for yourself and for the planet.
Check out these guides to help you reduce toxins in your home.
The Environmental Defence Guide to Cleaning and Indoor Air
Cleaning should be about fighting grime, not fighting for your health. The problem is that a lot of popular cleaning products can impact indoor air quality by releasing a group of chemicals called volatile organic compounds (or VOCs), which can really hurt you.
That’s why it makes sense to be mindful of your indoor air quality and reduce the risk from VOCs when you clean your home. Here are a few tips to keep your house sparkling while protecting the air inside your home.
The Environmental Defence Toxic Ten Guide
Canadians are exposed to toxic chemicals every day, but you can reduce your exposure if you know where they lurk. Substances that are dangerous to your health are still in lots of everyday products on Canadian store shelves – and even in our homes.
Check out this list of 10 harmful chemicals that can affect your health and learn how to avoid them when you are shopping.
Companies who have taken Environmental Defence’s Just Beautiful Pledge
Environmental Defence’s Just Beautiful Pledge exists to help consumers (shoppers like you or me) make smarter decisions about the products we buy. It also helps to promote the good work of manufacturers and retailers making and/or selling products that are free of the Toxic Ten ingredients.
Here are some of the companies who have taken the pledge:
Top Ten Reasons to Love Bats
Bats are amazing, don’t believe us? Count down through these ten reasons that bats are the best! Sadly bats in North America are being threatened by White Nose Syndrome. Start a campaign to help protect them and check out this fun Halloween activity to help you raise awareness about bat protection.
1) Bats are really unique; they are the only flying mammal
2) Many bats eat insects, which helps to control bug populations
3) They are super social, living in huge colonies
4) When hanging upside down, they look like they’re dancing
5) Bat droppings, called guano, is one of the world’s richest fertilizers
6) Swaddled baby bats look like an adorable burrito
7) Bats are really diverse, with lots of different species to pick a favourite
8) Many species are endangered and really need our help
9) Bats are loud but keep it quiet for humans by making sounds at octaves we can’t hear
10) They have a face that screams ‘love me’!
